How to Convert TSV to CSV

Converting TSV to CSV is mostly a matter of swapping one character: tabs become commas. But there is one detail that trips people up, which is what happens when a value already contains a comma. Here is how the two formats differ and how to convert between them safely.

TSV vs CSV: the only real difference

Both formats store rows of tabular data, one row per line. The difference is the separator between fields:

TSV (tab-separated values) uses a tab character between fields.
CSV (comma-separated values) uses a comma between fields.

That is it. Same rows, same columns, different delimiter. Spreadsheets and databases tend to spit out TSV when you copy or export, while many tools and importers expect CSV, so converting between them is a routine chore.

Why CSV needs quoting and TSV usually does not

The catch is that a delimiter cannot appear inside a value without confusing the parser. In CSV, a value like Smith, John contains a comma, so it has to be wrapped in double quotes: "Smith, John". The same rule applies to values containing double quotes (which get doubled, like "She said ""hi""") or line breaks. Without that quoting, a single comma inside one cell would silently split it into two columns and shift every value after it.

TSV rarely needs quoting because tabs almost never appear inside real data. That makes TSV the simpler, more forgiving format, but CSV is the more widely supported one. Good conversion means stripping unnecessary TSV quoting on the way in and adding correct CSV quoting on the way out. The TSV to CSV Converter handles that escaping for you so a stray comma never corrupts your columns.

Convert TSV to CSV in three steps

Open the TSV to CSV Converter and paste your tab-separated data, or load a .tsv file.
The tool detects the tab delimiter, re-quotes any value that contains a comma, quote, or newline, and outputs valid CSV.
Copy the result or download it as a .csv file.

It converts both directions, so you can flip CSV back to TSV the same way, useful when a tool or database importer specifically wants tabs.

Watch out for Excel quirks

Excel is the usual reason this conversion gets messy:

Pasting a CSV directly into Excel sometimes dumps everything into one column, depending on your regional list-separator setting (some locales use a semicolon, not a comma).
Excel may strip leading zeros from values like ZIP codes or product IDs, turning 00723 into 723. Converting the text first keeps the raw value intact.
Copying cells out of Excel gives you TSV, not CSV, which is exactly why this conversion comes up so often.

Convert the text cleanly first, then import, and you sidestep most of Excel’s guessing.

CSV to JSON - turn a CSV table into structured JSON for APIs or code.
CSV Viewer - open and browse a CSV in a sortable table before converting.
JSON to CSV - flatten JSON arrays back into a spreadsheet-ready CSV.

Swap the delimiter, let the tool handle the quoting, and your columns stay put.